The BBC is ‘urgently looking into’ the allegations made about Russell Brand (Picture: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The BBC has revealed it is ‘urgently looking into the issues raised’ surrounding Russell Brand, while Channel 4 will be conducting its own internal investigation.
The St Trinian’s actor, 48, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and physical abuse, in a Channel 4 special episode of Dispatches airing in a joint investigation with The Times.
He has also been accused of pursuing audience members for sex while presenting Big Brother spin-off shows EFourum and Big Brother’s Big Mouth on Channel 4, while other allegations relate to when he was a radio presenter for the BBC.
Brand, who has denied the ‘very serious allegations’ in a video shared on Friday night, has been accused by multiple women, including one who claimed she was 16 years old at the time.
Alongside the alleged assaults, the documentary and The Times investigation make several claims about Brand’s behaviour in the workplace, at both BBC and Big Brother, insinuating predatory behaviour.
The Channel 4 special also hears Brand offering to take his naked assistant to Jimmy Savile when he interviewed the disgraced paedophile in 2007 for BBC Radio 2.
Brand worked for the BBC between 2006 and 2008, until he stepped down after a controversial prank call to Andrew Sachs, later dubbed Sachsgate.
The investigation in The Times claims Brand’s behaviour towards women was an ‘open secret’, noting: ‘Many felt the BBC should have been awake to the concerns about Brand’s on-air behaviour well before the Sachsgate scandal.’
Brand worked for the BBC between 2006 and 2008 (Picture: Alan Weller/FilmMagic)
Brand elsewhere made a series of sexual remarks to newsreader Andrea Simmons, calling her a ‘sex bomb’ on air.
The BBC has said it is ‘urgently looking into the issues raised’ in the joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
In a new statement, a BBC spokesman said: ‘The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years.
‘Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.’
Elsewhere, in the documentary, a former Big Brother runner said they feel as though they ‘acted as a pimp’ to Brand’s needs.
Brand hosted Big Brother spin-off Big Brother’s Big Mouth from 2004 to 2006, and Celebrity Big Brother’s Big Mouth from 2005 to 2007.
A former runner from the show claimed they and their fellow co-workers were ‘basically acting as pimps to Russell Brands’ needs’ as they put him in contact with women in the audience of the show that were ‘all over 18, but under 22.’
The researcher claimed concerns about Brand’s behaviour were reported to production managers at Endemol, the company commissioned by Channel 4 to produce the programmes in 2004 and 2005, but were dismissed.
Brand presented Big Brother spin-off shows on Channel 4 (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
On Sunday, Channel 4 announced it is conducting its own internal …read more
Source:: Metro
